Monthly Archives: June 2012

April 22nd
The BCEW Northern Development League started at Old Sharlston CC near Wakefield on Sunday 22nd April.
The game was played between Yorkshire Ridings and Durham VICC with the home side winning by 7 wickets.
The weather forecast wasn’t good but the rain stopped in the early afternoon and after some sterling work by the groundstaff, we got going at around 2pm.
Durham were put into bat and made 99 for 5 wickets in their 20 overs. Yorkshires young development players batted steadily and reached 101 for 3 in around 14 overs. Both teams agreed that they would carry on and use all 20 overs in order to give everyone a chance.
Special mention goes to Peter Stanley who was umpiring his first ever game of VI cricket and equipped himself well.
Altogether a good start to the first development league season and this bodes well for the rest of the year.

Yorkshire took 18 points from the match with Durham gaining 4 points.

May 7th
Latest result from the northern section is that Lancashire Lions beat Yorkshire Ridings by 4 wickets with 3.3 overs to spare. This game took place on a bank holiday Monday at Oldham Werneth CC.

Lancashire 19pts, Yorkshire 6 pts.

May 20th
The latest match took place between Durham and Yorkshire at Darlington RACC on Sunday 20th May.

The sun finally made an appearance and a fine match was played out in a good spirit.

Yorkshire made 164 for 3 in their 20 overs.

In a very exciting finish , Durham requiring 16 from the last over, ended the game two runs short, with 8 wickets down but this still gave them a hard earned draw.

Durham VICC 9pts, Yorkshire Ridings 12pts

May 27th
The Nottingham Knights visited Oldham Werneth on Sunday 27th May to take on the Lancashire Lions in the latest BCEW northern league game.

The Lions won the toss and chose to bat, making a fine total of 222 for 7 in their 20 overs.

The Knights offered some dogged resistance but finally succumbed for 48.

Report on T20 England v Australia series for the Julie Powers Memorial Trophy

Of the four matches planned for this series, the first and fourth were rained off. The second and third took place on the same day at Leamington CC. England won both matches and so took the series 2-0.
In the first of the two matches England faced a less than lethal attack with Ray Moxly out for the tour and Peter Robinson rested. Even so Dan Field deputised ably for the rested Andy Powers as Matt Dean’s opening partner. They accumulated 104 in 11 overs. Field himself was injured and restricted himself to driving with a perfectly executed one to the cover boundary which even Nick Haydar applauded. Matt Dean was also injured during the course of his hard-hitting century which he brought up off 66 balls with 3 boundaries. Despite needing a runner, Dean was prolific in the ‘V’ and at the fall of the only wicket Mo Khatri contributed a brisk 20 off 15 balls.
When Australia batted they were reduced to 27-3 after 4 overs by the opening attack of Rob Comber and Luke Sugg. Comber bowled Matt Horsey and debutant Matt Page brilliantly caught Brett Wilson off the bowling of Sugg. When Justin Hollingsworth bowled Nick Haydar for 21 at 98-6, defeat was inevitable. Three run outs for Sugg to add to his impressive figures of 3.5-0-19-3 meant that they won a crushing victory by 74 runs by bowling Australia out with over 5 overs to spare.
Leaving aside the effects of injury and Ashes victory celebrations, England looked a different team in their inaugural T20 match to the one that handed the Ashes to Australia.

In the second match Andy Powers ably deputised for the rested ‘keeper Field as Australia were restricted to 147-3 in their 20 overs. Swanepoel returned with tidy figures of 4-0-22-1 and Comber continued to impress as his opening partner with 4-0-20-1. Lindsay Heaven batted valliantly throughout for an unbeated 69 and he and David Gauci recovered well from another disastrous start of 17-2 after Nick Haydar had been trapped by Comber for 3. After Cory Heberley had been needlessly run out the Australians did well to reach a gettable 147. Finally the plague of wides bowled by the partials had been addressed as they only bowled 5 extras in 12 overs between them. Another debutant Ryan Leighton gave a definite lift to the fielding side
England had plenty of time to knock off the runs as again they only lost one wicket when Matt Dean was run out by Haydar for a solid 43 and predictably Andy Powers concluded proceedings with a classy unbeaten 82 as he was accompanied by Mo Khatri who played another bright knock.
After Khatri hit the winning runs, Powers ran to embrace his father Paul on the boundary and so ended an emotional day for everyone but particularly the vast majority of the crowd who were privileged to have known the beloved Julie who passed away in October.
Australia lost a T20 tournament to Pakistan recently. The Australians reckoned that anything above 220 in this format is a potentially winning score.
England must fancy their chances in the forthcoming T20 World Cup in Bangalore in December although this only partly alleviated the pain of losing the Ashes so conclusively.

Third One Day International Blind Cricket Match between England and Australia at Warwick School Saturday 2nd June 2012.

Australia achieved a 3-0 win in the series after winning the toss and asking England to bat on another cold, damp day.
England scored 297-7 in their 40 overs. Australia replied with 298-8 scoring the winning run off the final ball.
Both teams made changes as expected with Justin Hollingsworth and Rob Comber making their England debuts.
England got off to the worst possible start with Matt McCarthy bowling double centurion Andy Powers first ball. Matt Dean and Mohamed Khatri then shared a stand of 84 with Khatri scoring 32 of the 112 B1 runs in the innings before being run out by Matt Horsey in the 13th over. Dean scored 59 off 60 balls before being run out by a direct throw from the boundary by Brett Wilson. With Luke Sugg caught by Matt Horsey for 1, the next two batsmen Heindrich Swanepoel and Hassan Khan were both entitled to a runner. With Dan Field and Luke Sugg as the runners the pair put on 119, their 100 partnership coming off 100 balls. Swanepoel scored 57 and Khan 42 as the fleet-footed runners took chances which usually came off but which also resulted in three run outs in the innings.
Only one boundary was scored in the entire innings as the ball usually halted before the rope in the damp outfield.
Steve Humphreys contributed 38 unbeaten B1 runs at a rapid rate to bring the England total close to 300 which was defendable in the conditions.
Both McCarthy and Heaven bowled tightly with figures of 6-0-29-1 and 6-0-25-0 respectively. However both limped off during the innings.

The new Australian opening pair of David Gauci and Brett Wilson were separated when Wilson was run out for 4 but Gauci scored 51 off 62 balls with most of his shots going back past the bowler as he grew in confidence. Mark Haskett showed sensible aggression to put Australia well ahead of the required rate. He scored 3 boundaries with one beautifully struck through cover. He was caught by Matt Dean for 53 at 159-4 in the 20th over. England had been 121-4 at the same stage. Rob Comber was then introduced into the attack. With figures of 6-0-41-2 his spell brought the scores level at the 31st over. He bowled at an impressive pace and dismissed Haskett with his third ball and had McCarthy caught by Field leaping from behind the stumps to glove a top edge.
Matt Horsey and David Saxberg guided Australia towards their target with man-of-the match Horsey holding his nerve with the lower order. The winning single came off the last ball of an over in which 8 runs were required. Unfortunately 1 run off a no-ball made the difference in an exciting finish.
The game was played at the historic Warwick School & was followed by the presentation of the Ashes by former England captain MJK Smith and Vikram Solanki at Leamington CC. Both venues offered excellent hospitality to players and officials.
Both teams have players carrying injuries into the Twenty20 series. The first match at Feckenham CC has been called off due to the weather. The series continues with two matches at Leamington CC on Monday followed by one at Feckenham on Tuesday.

Second One Day International Blind Cricket Match between England and Australia at Malvern College Thursday 31st May 2012.

For the second day running the side winning the toss inserted the opposition. England started their innings in very different conditions to the previous day. It was cold and damp but thanks to the excellent efforts of the groundstaff a match was completed.
England scored 338-6 in their 40 overs. In reply Australia were required to score 260 in 33 overs in a rain-shortened match. Australia romped home by 8 wickets with 17 balls to spare and won the Ashes series with an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match series.

Andy Powers carried on where he left off in the first match with another chanceless century and shared an opening partnership of 81 with Matt Dean who was out to a superb B1 (one-bounce) catch by David Saxberg in the dreaded 13th over. Dean had driven powerfully into the on side and what looked like an excellent pick up and return to the keeper turned out to be a catch on further consideration by Saxberg and his team-mates.
At 143-2 Luke Sugg joined Powers and England’s two best players gave a superb batting exhibition. Powers skilfully combatted the bounce achieved by the quicker bowlers early on and Australia introduced their B1 overs as early as the 10th over. In a 4th wicket stand of 77 they dominated the Australian bowling with Powers hitting back over the bowler’s head and Sugg hitting powerfully through midwicket. They both scored 107. Powers was eventually lbw hitting out at Chris Baillee. Sugg was unbeaten having accelerated throughout an innings that occupied 73 deliveries, his second 50 coming off only 20 balls. Crucially he found the boundary 10 times with four successive 4s off Saxberg in the 32nd over. A clatter of lower middle-order run outs did not take the gloss off a much-improved England batting performance.

Just over half an hour into the Australian reply, rain stopped play for an hour and a half. On resumption Matt Horsey and Cory Heberley responded with an opening stand of 97. With few dot balls Australia established a momentum that kept them ahead of England throughout. Man-of-the-match Andy Powers bowled Heberley for 44 which brought in B1 Michael Zannis who contributed a crucial 54 in 59 deliveries before being run out by Matt Dean. Captain Horsey took his side to victory with an unbeaten 90 off 78 balls. Matt McCarthy accompanied him to the end with a swift 23 off 11 balls with four boundaries.
Australia thoroughly deserved their victory. Following a rest day the third match at Warwick School on Saturday will probably see some changes in both sides.

First One Day International Blind Cricket Match between England and Australia at Malvern College Wednesday 30th May 2012.

Apart from a short shower early in the afternoon the first match in this three-match series was played in glorious sunshine at the beautiful ground at Malvern College.
England won the inaugural Ashes series at Bradfield School in 2004 and defended them in Sydney in 2008. Both of these were five-match series but the current series is only three matches so that four 20/20 matches can also be played as preparation for the 20/20 Blind Cricket World Cup later in the year.
Australia won the first match by 76 runs in a game where fortunes oscillated wildly throughout but featured two truly outstanding individual performances.
England invited Australia to bat and soon the dangerous Cory Heberley was run out by Luke Sugg. In Heberley’s last match against England he clubbed 151.
Australia’s progress was inhibited by some excellent fielding and the bowling of totally blind (B1) Mohamed Khatri who finished with figures of 8-0-54-3. The first boundary came in the 22nd over but before then England had reduced Australia to 90-4 with Andy Power’s run out of Lindsay Heaven on the last ball of the 13th over just before the first drinks break.
The fall of the next wicket brought Nick Haydar to the crease. Haydar’s flicks off his toes and cuts square of the wicket was the best batting of the innings showing immaculate timing and balance. England lost the initiative with a spate of wides and Haydar found valuable support in Ray Moxly who scored 49. Moxly who came in at number 10 was last out run out with one ball left in the innings. Earlier he had turned awkwardly while running and collapsed holding his right knee subsequently requiring a runner.
Another impressive performance came from England debutant B1 Steve Humphreys who bowled his full quota of overs and took his first international wicket .

When England batted chasing 319 they lost captain Matt Dean in the first over and Luke Sugg run out off a misfield but worse was to come. With the score on 81-3 Ray Moxly bowled a sensational over in which he clean bowled four batsmen in five balls while contributing 7 to the total in wides. All this happened in the dreaded 13th over while opener Andy Powers watched the carnage from the other end.
Australia took a gamble on bowling nearly all their partial overs from Heaven, Robinson and Moxly up front and leaving their 16 B1 overs to be bowled at the end of the 40 overs.
When Powers was joined by brother Dave at 127-8 they both effortlessly pierced the field with controlled hitting. In a stand of 65, the using up of the partial overs became a distant possibility. When the innings closed with Andy Powers bowled by Robinson after a stand of 51 with last man debutant Amit Amin, only one ball to be bowled by a partially sighted bowler remained.
Powers had nearly carried his bat for a magnificent 118, his fourth century for England.
It was an innings of the highest class as he nearly steered England to a most unlikely victory.
Moxly took the man-of-the match award and gave an emotional speech in which he feared that his career had ended at the moment when his knee crumpled while batting.
Australia will be glad to have made a winning start for once and will be confident of wrapping up a series win tomorrow at the same venue. England will hope that they can occupy the crease more convincingly and dominate the Australian bowling in the later overs.